Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Aug;298(2):123-134.
doi: 10.1111/joim.20105. Epub 2025 Jun 12.

Prospective association between plasma amino acids and healthy aging in older adults

Damián González-Beltrán  1 , Humberto Yévenes-Briones  1   2 , Alberto Lana  3 , Juan Cárdenas-Valladolid  4   5 , Miguel Ángel Salinero-Fort  6   7 , Fernando Rodríguez-Artalejo  1   2   8 , Esther Lopez-Garcia  1   2   8 , Francisco Félix Caballero  1   2
Affiliations

Prospective association between plasma amino acids and healthy aging in older adults

Damián González-Beltrán et al. J Intern Med. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Most studies have compared plasma amino acids profiling across different age groups using a cross-sectional design, but no previous research has assessed the relationship between specific amino acid species and healthy aging.

Objectives: This study aims to explore the relationship between plasma concentrations of nine amino acids and healthy aging in an older Spanish population.

Methods: This longitudinal study uses data from the Seniors-ENRICA 2 Spanish cohort, which comprises community-dwelling individuals aged 65 and older. Plasma amino acid concentrations were measured at baseline and after a 5-year follow-up period (n = 859). Healthy aging has been defined as the delay on the onset of chronic conditions, optimal physical functioning, and no cognitive impairment. Multilevel mixed effect logistic models were used to examine the prospective association proposed, after adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, and lifestyle behaviors.

Results: The baseline mean age of the participants was 70.9 years (standard deviation [SD] = 4.0), and 51.6% were men. In the fully adjusted models, lower plasma concentrations of alanine [odds ratios per 1-SD increase (95% confidence interval) = 0.78 (0.72, 0.86)], isoleucine [0.70 (0.63, 0.78)], leucine [0.78 (0.71, 0.86)], and valine [0.79 (0.71, 0.86)] were prospectively associated with healthy aging (p-value < 0.001 in all cases). No significant associations were observed for glutamine, glycine, histidine, and aromatic amino acids.

Conclusion: Lower concentrations of alanine and branched-chain amino acids were prospectively associated with healthy aging in the older population.

Keywords: amino acids; healthy aging; lifestyle behaviors; metabolomic profiling; older adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Local polynomial smooth plots for plasma amino acids (µM) and age, among those who participated in the follow‐up (n = 859); 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization . World report on ageing and health . World Health Organization. 2015. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/186463/978924069481.
    1. Behr LC, Simm A, Kluttig A, Grosskopf A. 60 years of healthy aging: on definitions, biomarkers, scores and challenges. Ageing Res Rev. 2023;88:101934. 10.1016/j.arr.2023.101934 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lopez‐Otin C, Blasco MA, Partridge L, Serrano M, Kroemer G. Hallmarks of aging: an expanding universe. Cell. 2023;186(2):243–278. - PubMed
    1. Ruiz‐Canela M, Guasch‐Ferre M, Razquin C, Toledo E, Hernandez‐Alonso P, Clish CB, et al. Plasma acylcarnitines and risk of incident heart failure and atrial fibrillation: the prevencion con dieta mediterranea study. Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed). 2022;75(8):649–658. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Machado‐Fragua MD, Landre B, Chen M, Fayosse A, Dugravot A, Kivimaki M, et al. Circulating serum metabolites as predictors of dementia: a machine learning approach in a 21‐year follow‐up of the Whitehall II cohort study. BMC Med. 2022;20(1):334. 10.1186/s12916-022-02519-6 - DOI - PMC - PubMed